Wield styles
Various wield styles are available to characters in EverQuest. This article provides an overview of each, with links to more detailed information. All of the following wield style names are informal (EverQuest does not formally label the different styles of wielding in-game), but are seen commonly enough in community discussions about the various weapon setups that a class should keep on its bandolier. Any generalizations made below about the different styles (which is more effective for which purposes) assume that all weapons and shields involved are of similar tiers of power, and that the character has (if applicable) invested similar amounts of AA points into improving the different wield styles. What is actually optimal for any given character in practice can be influenced by these and other factors (e.g. buffs that add flurry chance or melee combat procs). Sword and Board The style of wielding a one-handed weapon in the primary hand with a shield in the secondary hand. (Despite the nickname, this is not solely restricted to swords, and can include one-hand blunt or one-hand piercing weapons just fine.) Sword and board is a defensively strong setup for all classes with access to it (which is nearly all of them, with berserkers and monks being notable exceptions). The real armor class provided by the shield grants a potentially large boost to the character's melee mitigation, and the presence of a shield in the setup makes it possible to take advantage of the Shield Block AA. Dedicated tank classes generally prefer a sword and board setup when tanking foes who deal dangerously high DPS, since the shield will reduce the likehood of a deadly damage spike and allow them to require less healing overall. This decision does generally come at the price of a reduction in autoattack damage compared to using a more offensive setup (e.g., two handing). Dual Wielding The style of wielding a weapon in each hand, this is the preferred wield style of most pure fighter and hybrid classes for optimizing DPS. The dual wield skill is required to be able to use a weapon in the secondary hand, and its proficiency determines how often the secondary weapon will actually swing when it has a chance to do so. With maxed out skill proficiency and the Ambidexterity AA purchased, the chance to dual wield successfully is approximately (what?). In general, dual wielding produces more swings in total than other wield styles, creating a large sample size of hits that makes its DPS tend toward a dependable average. The high number of swings also produces a large amount of swing threat, making it a useful wield style for deliberately gaining (and maintaining) a mob's attention, even if the style's defenses leave something to be desired. The weapon held in the secondary hand can also trigger procs, including procs granted by buffs. but only at about half of the normal rate of weapons held in the primary hand. The secondary weapon does not benefit from its weapon's damage bonus stat, although it can be granted a small (how much?) damage bonus value if the Sinister Strikes AA has been purchased. Two Handing The style of wielding a single two-handed weapon, this is the sole wield style available to berserkers and the favored style of paladins and shadow knights seeking to optimize their DPS. For high-level monks, it has the unique position of serving as a strong wield style for tanking, thanks to the Staff Block AA. Two handing takes advantage of the high damage bonus of two-handed weapons and can make use of the fact that two-handed damage bonus scales with weapon delay (something not true of one-handers). In addition to the style's normal autoattack DPS uses, a tanking class may find two-handing helpful for optimzing riposte DPS. This can come in handy when tanking for a party with plenty of healing and debuffing] available, or when swarm tanking foes that have a hard time inflicting damage to him or her even with no shield equipped. Other Wield Styles The following styles are either uncommon, class-specific, or highly situational. Barefisted This involves wielding nothing in one or both hands in order to make use of the character's barefisted weapon damage and weapon delay, which scales with the hand to hand skill proficiency. If the character has the dual wield skill, the secondary hand can also swing barefisted if nothing is held in it. This wield style has its uses for low-level monks who want to take advantage of the class's high hand to hand skill cap in order to deal respectable damage without needing to purchase an actual weapon. For most classes, it is also the only way of raising hand to hand skill for the purpose of getting skill-proficiency-related achievements. Non-weapon and Shield This style involves equipping a primary-hand-usuable item that is not a weapon (i.e., it has no damage or delay stats) and a shield in the secondary hand. This type of setup is mainly used by tank classes in a raiding context to avoid accidentally killing a specific mob via riposte damage. The reasons why this might be necessary vary from event to event. A similar riposte-preventing effect can be achieved with any weapon set by having the tank enter a ducking stance, but doing so can create other problems in terms of mobility and ability usage, making an actual bandolier setup of this wield style a more ideal alternative. Non-weapon and Secondary Weapon Available only to classes that can dual wield, this setup is similar to the above, but with an offhand weapon equipped instead of the shield. It has very situational uses, mostly in raiding contexts (e.g., for mitigating the danger of high-powered damage shield effects on foes). Weapon and Instrument A bard-only wield style, this consists of holding an instrument in one hand and a weapon in the other, usually in order to take advantage of a high resonance modifier or some other focus effect on the instrument, such as woodwind finesse or instrumental combat.